William Brashler (born 1947) is an American author and journalist. He is best known for writing ''The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings'', which was published in 1973. A film adaptation, directed by

John Badham John MacDonald Badham (born August 25, 1939) is an English television and film director, best known for his films ''Saturday Night Fever'' (1977), ''Dracula'' (1979), ''Blue Thunder'' (1983), ''WarGames'' (1983), ''Short Circuit'' (1986), and ...

and starring

Richard Pryor Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor Sr. (December 1, 1940 – December 10, 2005) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. He reached a broad audience with his trenchant observations and storytelling style, and is widely regarded as on ...

and

Billy Dee Williams William December Williams Jr. (born April 6, 1937) is an American actor. He appeared as Lando Calrissian in the '' Star Wars'' franchise, first in the early 1980s for ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980) and ''Return of the Jedi'' (1983), and thir ...

, was released in 1976. ''Bingo Long'' was chosen as one of the top 100 sports books of all time by ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twi ...

'', in 2002. The 20th anniversary edition of the book included a preface by sports historian Peter C. Bjarkman.

Career

''City Dogs'', Brashler's next novel, was inspired by his time covering the Chicago police beat, and was favorably reviewed by '' Kirkus Reviews'' and ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

''. ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' gave it a mixed review, however, calling it "erratically interesting," with only some of ''Bingo Longs "attractiveness and humor." Brashler grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and graduated from Calvin University in 1968. A collection of his papers is held at Calvin's Heritage Hall, Hekman Library. Brashler is an alumnus of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He worked as a journalist for Lerner Newspapers. Brashler coauthored Johnny Bench's 1979 autobiography.

Books

* ''The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings'' (1973) * ''City Dogs'' (1976) * ''The Don: The Life and Death of Sam Giancana'' (1977) * ''Josh Gibson: A Life in the Negro Leagues'' (1978) * ''The Chosen Prey'' (1982) * ''Traders'' (1989) * ''The Story of Negro League Baseball'' (1994)

References

Living people American male journalists American male novelists Calvin University alumni 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American non-fiction writers 1947 births 20th-century American male writers {{US-journalist-1940s-stub